Angels and Demons
by NeonZangetsu
Summary: Omega. A desolate hive of scum and villainy. Here there are rumours of a Demon, a creature out of myth and mind, prowling through Omega's perennial twilight. Others claim that there is a new guardian on the station, someone watching out for the people. An Archangel. Some say these two might even be real. But will an angel and a demon be enough to save this station? NarukoxGarrus.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hey, all! I'm back! First off, I wanted to say thank you to all those who have supported me and encouraged me to stick with what I'm doing, and more importantly, to remain on this site. I've decided to buck and, despite the the undue anger and aggression I've been receiving from both sources anonymous and otherwise...I'm going to stick around. Writing has been my passin for all of six years, and I wouldn't give it up for the world. If I stopped writing on this sight I'd just feel...hollow, ya know?**

**Now, I've been through the ringer as of late, but it seems things are finally starting to look up for me at long last. My living situation has been rectified, I'll be going back to school soon, and to top it all off, I recently found a new job! Today, was orientation. Now,I know what you're thinking. Will work cut down on the frantic updating I've been doing as of late? Not so! There are many hours in the day, and I'm definitely going to work hard to continue to update all my fics-Prometheus being one of them- So thanks, ya'll for the support. Love you guys! **

**As to this story, its just an idea I got, and I don't belive anyone has tried it yet, so...**

**...here we go! Fair Warning! Violence and gore in this chapter!**

_"It's so much easier to see the world in black and white. Gray... I don't know what to do with gray."_

_~Garrus Vakarian._

**Angels and Demons**

Fromn nearly ten thousand kilometres out, Omega was barely visible to the naked eye. It existed as a little shred of metal and rock fused into a rounded T-shape, pulsing with the faintest of orange glows. Sensors could give a picture many times better, but with the bare gaze or through an uncorrected camera, it was barely bigger than any of the thousands of other lonely asteroids drifting around Sahrabarik.

Even at close range it was small; its habitable sections were larger than the average city, but its past was so chequered and chaotic that huge swathes of it were abandoned to decay. Perhaps thirty percent of what could have been lived in _was _lived in, and those parts were inevitably built over and into and from the ruins of dozens of cycles of exodus and revanchism, going all the way back to the days when Prothean industry had created the station in the first place.

Omega was a vast domain of the secret and the forgotten, a place where the fringes of worlds brushed over each other and mingled, a realm inherently steeped in mystery and the plastic romance of uncivilised frontiers. You could find anyone here, any group no matter how reviled; the Blue Suns, Eclipse, Blood Pack, even lesser ones like the Talons, or Terra Firma– there were even rumours of a demon, a creature out of myth and mind-prowling through Omega's perennial twilight. Others claimed that there was a new guardian on the station, someone watching out for the people. An Archangel. Some say they might even be real.

This one was.

* * *

Today, the demon was watching.

It was just another dingy street, just another civillian behing harassed by the gangs. Today its the Blood Pack. Vorcha. Krogan. Human. Among others. They're out in force tonight. Part of her wonders why. Ther rest of her mind registers their words as little more than an endless animal bleat; but the asari they're harassing quails in fear. She isn't a powerful biotic like most of her kind. Her violet face is tinged orange by the dim lights her eyes wide with fear as she backepdals. There is no sidearm in her hands when her arms come up, she has only her empty palms to offer her tormentor.

"Please, she begs. "I have a daughter...

They don't care. They knock her down. They demand payment for her trespass. She only has one thing to give besides her life. Something twists inside the demon as she watches. Someone-anyone-should step in. They should _do_ something. But the asari is alone and the streets are empty save the Blood Back. No one will come for her.

The demon drops from the shadows like a wraith. Dark clothing. Silencers. Blends in flawlessly. The first vorcha never feels the cold hands close around his thoat until it was too late; his neck snaps like a twig. The next is easy. A second falls to a silenced shot by her pistol, but by then the third has begun to turn. He realizes that someone is among them now someone who does not belong. Realizes something is terribly, horribly wrong- that there is danger here, and he is next to fall. Too little, too late. He sees only a spiraling sphere of raw energy snarling in her hand, barreling toward his face. _Rasengan._ The word comes from within, not without as she slams the attack into his gaping maw. Blue eyes flash red.

"What the hell?!"

His face turns to a bloody mist, and just like that her prescence is irrevocably revealed. The gang starts in surprise. One of their korogan is a hair faster than the others, training his shotgun on he,r and firing almost instantaneously. Almost before she can react. Almost but not quite. She ducks at the last, a wave of searing pellets shooting harmlessly overhead in a streak of fire. Then she lashes out. A booted foot-so deceptively small-crashes into the reptile's stomach. He's suddenly across the station, buried in the crumbling remains of a building. The demon lowers her limb, her whiskered cheeks pinching in a stern scowl.

"Surrender." she says, rolling her shoulders. The motion sends her golden tresses trailing down her back. "Or don't. Makes no difference to me."

"She's with Archangel! Get her! Get-_aaargh!"_ This krogan has more bluster than he does brains. He dies next.

She blurs past him out in a swathe of golden light - and the severed halves of his body topple to the ground behind her.

The asari shrank back in fear, cringing away from the growing pool of blood at her feet.

"Goddess...

The demon barely hears her. Her mind is ticking now. Intrigued. Archangel? Her mind recognizes the term, but not the point behind it. Archangel. Human term, guardian of heaven. Protector of the innocent. The meek, impoverished, those who cannot protect themselves. The weak. She does not understand why they would affiliate her with such a being-she's always been a demon. A monster. She doesn't need their thanks. She only knows that it is right.

She doesn't offer another explanation when the Blood Pack starts screaming at her. She just attacks.

Her body quakes with fury as she charged forward, shredding a row of attackers with a sweep of one golden arm. In her left hand, the pistol barks out its last few shots, and she hurls the useless gun aside. She grabs a salarian by the throat and crushes it, tossing the body away, bodily picks up a vorcha and sends it screaming to its death over the side of the bridge, caves in a human's skulll with a single headbutt. She does not feel the pain of a hundred gunshots eating away her body anymore than one would feel the pain of wind on their face. Because it does not hurt.

No sooner is she shot than she heals. Then she is shot again, and so the vicious cycle continues. Over and over and _over _again. She dances amongst them, her long blond hair flashing behind her in a curtain of safffron and molten gold, always just out of reach. She takes no pleasure in the killing; there is nothing pleasurable about it for her. Her body simply does as her mind wills. And she wills them to die. They're shouting now-they realize what-who-has fallen upon them. Some try to beg.

She kills them anyway.

Only when she finally realized that she can no longer find any foes does she even begin to understand that she is alone. The asari she'd stepped in to save is long gone, having fled down some darkened alley during her rampage against the Blood Pack. Blood Pack. Ha. She finds the irony slightly amusing. Now they were bathed in their own blood. She'd slaughtered them to the last man, ruthlessly dispatched them, and all the back-up that rallied to their position. But now it was over. Done. Over. She was alone.

The demon was alone.

Well, perhaps not entirely alone. There. She spied a single krogan, standing now, amidst the carnage. He's a great big brute of a beast, large even for the standards of his species, clad in great gory armor, red, like her blood. _Garm._ Leader of the Blood Pack. Her mind vomits the name and information, blazed into her brain from something _someone_ she doesn't remember. She can see three holes in his skull and he's missing an entire arm, but incredibly the wizzened is still alive, towering over her. She's reminded of a human proverb.

David and Goliath.

"You little bitch." the krogan battlemaster sounds almost calm to her ears but she knows he's inordinately angry, perversely pissed off at her and the damage she's done. His eyes are glazed with the blood rage. "I can't believe you actually killed them." there it was. The anger. "My Blood Pack! What gives you the right?!" He's shrieking at her now, spittle flying from his maw. "What gives you the right to-

"Stop talking." A smooth, flowing voice like a running river emerges into the air. Belatedy, she realizes its her own. "Die, now."

Wordlessly she launches herself forward, cannoning into Garm with all the speed of a hellfire missile. He manages to get a single shot off wth his shotgun before she lands and blows a hole in her stomach. She ignores the wound. Its already healed neatly by the time she gets her hands on him. But he's not like the rest. He's ready.

He hits her. Hard. Her head snaps back from the motion, stars exploding across her vision-entire planets going supernova before her eyes. As ever the pain is fleeting-she wills herself to ignore it. Override it. Pain. It is nothing if she can't feel it. So she doesn't. She feels nothing. Nothing at all.

Naruko turns her head and spits a bloody gob into the street. A tooth clatters after it, regrown before it hits the ground. Dull red eyes flash to Garm. She feels something stir within her. Dissapointment. Weren't krogan supposed to hit harder?

"Is that it?"

"Why you-

She wraps her arms tightly around the krogan and heaves them both to the side, towards the edge of the bridge. The krogan roars, defiant in her face and she shrieks back, red light pouring from her mouth, and to her immense satisfaction, Garm suddenly looks bloody terrified. He struggles-but its no use. She's too strong. She's always too strong for her own good. Slim arms wrestle him down to the hot, boiling tarmac and hold him there. Then she starts to apply pressure with her right arm.

Slowly at first-restraining someone so large is no mean feat-she feels his bones begin to to break, tendons tearing themselves in twine. Garm starts cursing, promising pain and saying all manner of obscene things. She squeezes harder. Then he begins to beg. He offers her a place in the Blood Pack at his side. His right hand. She doesn't listen to him. She only squeezes all the harder. He thrashes wildly, eyes going crazed with fear as her left limb swings back into view and reveals the knife. "No," he bleats, his rough voice finally breaking with true and genuine fear. NO-WWWWWAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!" The words warble off into a scream as she jams the weapon into the only vulnerable area availabe.

_His crest._

Garm gave a final squeal as the knife twisted against the plate and found his brain. Then he dropped dead. She felt no satisfaction. Only relief. Numb, she disentangles herself from him. A pause. She stoops, stripping his body of all valuables. Including a credit chit. Her eyes widen slightly at the amount stored there. This will feed her for months. If not a year.

A rare smile graces her features. Success. Victory. She will survive. She will survive. Live on. With every breath she draws she continues to live; to spite the ones who made her.

They'd called her a failure. Trash. Refuse. She was supposed to be the genetic identical of one of Earth's greatest warriors from ages past. Only problem that she, was supposd to be a _he._ The scientists had called her a failure from the moment of her "birth" from that glass tank, at the very second they'd realized she would fail to meet those exacting standards. They'd wanted Uzumaki Naruto. She had no idea who that was, what he had done, or why they wanted him. But she knew what _she_ was. A clone.

One of the scientists had spat that in her face when she'd asked where she came from. He'd called her a test tube baby...among other things. _Ripper,_ they'd called her when they'd seen her powers. Naruko was one the technicians hardly used. If ever.

She was a clone. Their guinea pig.

For. Eight. Years. Eight years of hellishly exacting tests, accelerated growth, agonizing gene splicing. Physically, she looked somewhere in the realm of twenty. In reality...she was only eleven years old. Eleven, but with a cold and deadly mind. Dangerous. Sharp. Too sharp. They thought they could contain her. They couldn't.

Naruko never knew the names of her captors; the ones that conducted those awful experiments. Probably because she'd killed them all when she made her escape. She'd proven herself worthy of her surname when the guards had tried to stop her. She'd slaughtered them to a man. Tore them to bloody pieces, then walked out a free woman.

Still, she knew very little of those early years beyond the escape. The word "Cerberus" was sometimes whispered in the dark when they thought she was alseep. Maybe they were the ones who created her. Who knew? She'd been trapped on this station for months after the shuttle she'd stolen crashed-landed here. Not enough credits to get off this rock until now. It was a good place to hide. She wasn't good at much else. Never had the patience for hacking. Tech wasn't her thing. Never had the patience for there's one thing she _was _good at.

Killing.

"Oh, _fuck."_

And it seemed it was that time again.

Ripper spun with a hiss at the voice, eyes flashing red. The knife rose with her, clenched in a reverse grip. She found herself staring at two men, one in gunmetal heavy blue armor, the other in light tactical. She glared bloody red daggers at them. Her mind screams a single word. _Danger!_

Turians. Two of them. Armed. She wonders:

Friend or foe?

* * *

"Oh, fuck."

Garrus was inclined to share in Sidonis' statement. They were looking at a bloodbath. And at the center of it all stood one girl. They'd caught her looting a krogan -holy shit, is that Garm?!- but the moment Sidonis had made the mistake of speaking, she'd rounded on them. Her body was covered in blood and her eyes were blazing the most unholy of red. Probably weren't contacts. Every single thing about her radiated sheer hostility on an almost primal levelfrom the way she bared her teeth to a slight clenching of her fingers into claws. This was someone on the edge.

Arhangel simply didn't know what to make of her.

She was a tiny little thing, barely breaking five feet, if even. Probably a hundred pounds, soaking wet. Even Shepard had been taller_-no, Vakarian, don't think like that. put it out of your mind._ He desperately dismissed the thoughts of the Commander from his head. Thinking about her would only make things worse for him. He'd come to Omega to get away from that in the first place. But, he hadn't. For what felt like weeks he'd seen her face on every human, heard her voice in his ear, urging him on with every life he took.

But staring at this girl, he saw none of that. She was a bundle of nerves, tense and angry and brimming with anxiety. She was watching him, her entire body coiled like a spring and ready to leap at the first shot. He certainly wasn't about to take it. Yet Sidonis...the kid was nervous. He'd had ever right to be of course-it wasn't every day you happened upon a complete massacre like this. Certainly not one only a flew blocks from your doorstep. He wasn't sure whether he should shoot the girl or thank her. There was no black and white here. Only gray. Damnit. He didn't know what to do with gray.

"I take it you did this." he left out the question mark, a three-fingered hand gesturing slowly, very slowly, to the carnage. It wouldn't do to spook her. If she could taken down the entire Blood Pack by herself, he didn't want to know what she could do to him and Sidonis.

She blinked at him innocently, "I don't know what you're talking about."

Typical response. Avoid and evade. He wasn't letting it go that easily.

_"Riiiiiight..._what's your name?"

"Ripper." She rose slowly, pocketing the chit in her pouch. Not a single movement was wasted - and she didn't even have _shields._ Her armor was threadbare, consisting of litttle more than a black bodysuit that seemed to cling to her every curve and what looked like an empty ammo belt strapped to her small chest. No ablative padding. No shields. He didn't even see a weapon on her. Spirits, who fought like that? Did she want to die? When she made no move to speak, he continued.

"Ironic." he quipped. "I meant your real name."

"Ripper." she replied in the same deadpan tone.

"C'mon," he tried one last time. "We're not going to hurt you."

A flash of indignation crossed her whiskered visage. "Everyone hurts. They just don't know it."

"Fair enough." there was a moment of silence between then. Finally he lowered his rifle, the weapon sinking into the magnetic holster at his back. He knew she could tear him in half before he got it up again, but still he dared a step forward, palms spread. She flinched asides. Probably because of the helmet. He paused. "The name's Archangel. But you can call me Garrus. See? Names are nice. Why don't you tell me yours?" That got a tiny smile from her._ Must be my winning personality, _he thought sardonically.

...Naruko." her voice was barely a whisper. Then she frowned. "You're...Archangel?"

Behind the helmet, he felt his mandibles twitch in a smile. "Expecting someone else?"

"I thought you'd be human."

He barked out a laugh. "So sorry to dissapoint. See? We're all friends here."

"Pfft." Sidonis snorted, finally making himself known. "Naruko. The hell kind of name is that?"

Her eyes snapped to him, sapphire staining scarlet. "Its _my_ name."

"Hey, I'm not knocking it. Just sounds weird is a-

She launched herself at him with a yowl, moving like an arrow loosed from a bow. Sidonis went down with a terrified yelp. He dropped his gun and started flailing, hands flying up to protect his face out of some morbid fear that she'd maul him there. "Grah! Not the face! Not the faaaaaace! I'm too handsome to lose this face!" That seemed to snap the girl out of her daze completely. Ripper blinked, and as Garrus looked on, he slowly watched the crimson color drain out of those eyes.

"Why would I go for your face?" she sounded almost perplexed. "That would be an easy kill. If I wanted you to suffer, I could just attack your stomach, or your legs." Her head cocked aside, considering. "Or perharps I could-

"We are so _not_ having this conversation!"

Garrus fought back a laugh as his partner squealed. Feisty little thing. And she'd taken out the Blood Pack all by herself. That was something even he hadn't been able to do. Garm had been one tough son of a bitch to fight; and she'd taken him apart like he was nothing. Handy person to have. Besides, their little band neded to expand; he and Sidonis couldn't very well handle all of Omega alone. But with her, and others, perhaps it really was possible...

"Join us." the words left his mouth before he could think to stop them. She blinked. Clamored off of Sidonis. The younger turian sqwuaked at her rudeness, but a stern glare by the blonde proved sufficient to silence his complaints. Those ruby red eyes cut mercilessly back to Garrus. As if they were peering into his very soul.

"You protect the weak?"

"Yes."

"An Angel and a Demon," she mused softly...

There was a silence, broken only by the sounds of Omega around them. Finally, she nodded.

"I have one condition."

"Name it." Garuss nodded.

Her eyes shone like diamonds.

_"Do you have any ramen?"_

**A/N: And there we have it! I had originally intended to make this another NarutoxMass Effect crossover, but then I thought to myself, hey now, I have enough of those. But A Naruko crossover? I haven't done one of those-not for Mass Effect at least. And there's only one of them on here?! And so...the challenge was accepted. I know it sounds silly, but I found the idea of a berserk, female, barely-function kunoichi thrown into a distant era?**** So far I've only seen one of those, and tbh, its not written very well. **

**That, and the idea of the Archangel era is so untouched...I just had to go for it! Naruko and Garrus ought to be funny as hell, though I'm not exactly sure what the paring should be. To those of ya who are curious about Garrus's squad, whom we never really see, I promise you'll get to see everyone of the bunch: Sidonis, Erash, Monteague, Mierin, Grundan Krul, Melanis, Sensat, Vortash, Butler,** **Weaver...the whole nine yards. We'll see 'em all! As to whether this will end with Archangel losing his squad, well...we'll just have to see about that now, won't we?**

**So...in the immortal words of Atlas...**

**...Review, Would Ya Kindly? And of course, enjoy the preview!**

**(Preview!)**

_"Oh, shit."_

_Naruko blinked slowly, her blue eyes fluttering open then shut with a terrifying slowness. Garrus knew that look. It was the same look she'd given Erash when he'd tried to hit on her - seconds before she'd levered him f__acefirst into a wall. But now, those icey pools were locked on him. And there was no escape. Reflexively, the vigilante raised both hands in protest. He knew it wouldn't save him from her wrath, but it made him feel a tiny bit better about his chances of surviving it._

_"Whatever it was, I didn't mean to do it, I swear."_

_There was a silence. And then:_

_Then:_

**"YOU THREW OUT MY RAMEN!"**

**R&amp;R! =D**


	2. There Might Be Coffee

**A/N: Hey, all! I'm back! First off, I wanted to say thank you to all those who have supported me and encouraged me to stick with what I'm doing, and more importantly, to remain on this site. I've decided to buck and, despite the the undue anger and aggression I've been receiving from both sources anonymous and otherwise...I'm going to stick around. Writing has been my passin for all of six years, and I wouldn't give it up for the world. If I stopped writing on this sight I'd just feel...hollow, ya know?**

**Now, I've been through the ringer as of late, but it seems things are finally starting to look up for me at long last. My living situation has been rectified, I'll be going back to school soon, and to top it all off, I recently found a new job! Today, was orientation. Now,I know what you're thinking. Will work cut down on the frantic updating I've been doing as of late? Not so! There are many hours in the day, and I'm definitely going to work hard to continue to update all my fics-Prometheus being one of them- So thanks, ya'll for the support. Love you guys!**

**As to this story, its just an idea I got, and I don't belive anyone has tried it yet, so...**

**...here we go! Fair Warning! Violence and gore in this chapter!**

_"So, a super-powerful human clone of an ancient alien monstrosity, bred to be a killing machine? Yeah, this can't go wrong. At all. I'll just be over here. You know, laughing. When shit hits the fan."_

_~Sidonis._

**There Might Be Coffee**

Rule number one of surviving Uzumaki Naruko:

Give her plenty of ramen.

Second rule?

_Stay the hell away from the vents._

Garrus soon learned that lesson the hard way.

Oddly enough, she had an annoying habit of disappearing into a shaft whenever she was distressed. That on its own, wouldn't have been much of a problem. Unfortunately, her inane habit of dropping down and yanking enemies into them with her hair...that _was_ one. It reminded him of a human flick he'd seen once. Alien, he believed it was called.

Spirits, she scared the piss out of him when she first demonstrated her transformation skill, the uncanny ability to become whomever-or whatever-she saw fit. Seemed even _she _knew about Alien. Rightly so.

Damned scary movie, that.

Still, as luck would have it, the little blond _didn't _outright destroy their base when they half-dragged, half-marched her back. A bit of nearly expired ramen purchased from a less-than-reputable vendor and she was right as rain. She spoke little, did little, maintained her gear, and didn't try to kill anyone beyond the occasional vorcha scavenger. The first hour or so passed in relative, tentative peace as Archangel made plans to hit Eclipse and the Blue Suns. Garm's stragglers weren't a threat to anyone but themselves anymore, not after that massacre.

_That_ was when the trouble started.

Erash, in his infinite-ha!-wisdom saw fit to poke the ticking time bomb, as it t'were.

"Hey, human, you want some coffee?"

There was a silence as the little blond turned her head in the direction of the batarian. Her ice blue eyes reflected nothing, not even a spark of interest. She blinked slowly, as though not truly hearing him. For a moment they thought she hadn't. Then, finishing off her noodles, she offered them a puzzled frown.

"What...is coffee?"

Their resident demolitionist shrugged, wiggling his eyeflaps. "There _might_ be coffee. If you make it worth my while."

"Is there coffee, then?" she asked, baffled, not taking the hint.

"Maybe."

Sidonis guffawed. "C'mon, you don't even know what-HEY?!"

His startled squawk was music to Garrus's ears.

She threw a knife at him; the deadly utensil lodged itself in the wall less than a inch from his cheek. An awkward silence passed between them, the girl's arm still extended from the savage throw. Erash took one look at her distant expression and decided to get her that coffee after all. A few moments later, a quiet _ding _signaled that the steaming beverage in question was in fact, ready. Warily, Erash offered it to the battered blonde, an uneasy look gleaming in his four eyes.

...thanks."

The moment she had it in her hands, she downed it.

"Ah, wait a second, its probably h...!"

_"Good~!"_

Her purring reply baffled everyone. Garrus, especially. He didn't recall keeping any sort of beverage around for humans.

"More...please." she croaked out, her soft voice emerging roughly from lack of use. The moment she realized Garrus was staring, she averted her eyes, sputtering.

Another interesting fact. Apparently, the little vixen was capable of eating/drinking just about anything, amino acids be damned. Just what kind of creature was she? Had someone cooked her up in a lab somewhere? He didn't know. And the not knowing bit actually frightened him a little. Here was a -human?- killing machine that he knew next to nothing about, someone who called herself "Ripper" for crying out loud, and seemed to be an absolute terror but for her twin loves of coffee and ramen.

Unthinking, he swept the empty container into a trash receptacle, incinerating it. Naruko was still drinking coffee like it was going out of style.

Three cups of the stuff, now. Titans, she was going to be wired as hell!

"I think you've had enough...

_"No!"_

Naruko hissed and clutched the cup to her chest; he was suddenly reminded of a viper baring its fangs at much larger predator. The fact that she could easily turn them all inside out in a single _blink_ certainly didn't help matters any. A

"Mine." she chirruped happily, indulging in her new favorite drink.

Sidonis_ balked._

Whatever else she might've said died as a sound reached her ears. Naruko stood stock still, gazing off toward a darkened window.

"Intruder."

A moment later, she leaped into a vent.

* * *

Krul was a stubborn krogan.

His mother had told him this, his father had told him this, hell, even Garm had once remarked on it. He was a krogan amongst krogan, refusing to lay down and die no matter how many rounds one pumped into him. A beast, who lived but for the thrill of the fight. None had been able to best him on Tuchanka, none, save Urdnot Wrex. Life of Tuchanka had no place for one such as him; he lived and breathed battle, nothing else would satisfy him.

Going off-planet had seemed like the next best thing. Freelancing with the Blood Pack was merely a way to make ends meet.

It was hard to remember how long he'd been on Omega, how long he'd simply been "getting by" on shooting hapless weaklings under Garm's leadership. No excitement. No thrills. No challenge. Boring, boring, boring!

_Until today._

Today, when that demon descended upon them, tearing through them like a varren through steak. She'd torn out one of his lungs swatted him aside at the very beginning, unknowingly sparing him.

He'd lain there for hours, simmering, seething as his wounds healed. For the first time in his life, he'd felt excitement. A thrill.

Now he was here, not for revenge, as one might think.

He was here to fight.

Spying the blond in question in the complex, Krul tried to creep towards a window, only to find the deceptively small creature turning in his direction. The demon looked right...at him. Impossible. She shouldn't have been able to see a thing in the dark. But see him she did, and those lifeless eyes sparked something in him.

Fear.

The weight of her gaze paralyzed him. So heavy! It felt as though he were trying to stand beneath the weight of the entire station itself! His brief moment of inattention proved costly however. In the time that it took him to recognize the fruitlessness of such an endeavor, a pair of hands rose up behind him. He was still turning when they clapped deafeningly against his ears.

"AAAAARGH!"

Deafened, he stumbled away, roaring. His ears-or what passed for them-were already mending themselves, but by the time they did, he felt something on his back.

All he heard was a heart-stopping hiss.

"Enemy."

Something sharp plunged into his shoulder and then he was rolling, dragging the little nymph off his back.

"Yes, that's more like it!" he cackled, hefting his shotgun, "Give me a fight!"

She twirled away from the first volley, still unarmed, but instead of vanishing, the human did the unthinkable.

_The little bitch actually charged him._

Krul barely had time to blink before a blur of blond and block bowled him over, sending him sprawling out in the street like a ragdoll. Despite himself, despite the pain, the throbbing of his plate, he laughed.

Her opponent raised his weapon. At that moment he saw her foot slip, siding on the greasy, blood steel. At that moment, it came down to sheer speed. And she...

...was simply off her game.

In the split second it took for her to raise her head his palm was already there, wrapping around her throat and slamming her to the soil. She bucked furiously, her knee smashing into his groin. _Cheap shot!_ She snarled, snatching the other end of her staff, then slammed it up into his neck. She spun-catching the other half-twisted back to crack it against his skull. Bang. White stars erupted before his vision. Stunned he staggered away, groaning, and the dancer spun _again _weaving between clumsy blows with contemptuous ease...

..and there, a slip.

Naruko's predatory instincts reacted instantly and she swung a fist, pouncing. Krul raised an arm to block her blow, but she saw it coming and changed the direction of her attack. The blow took him square in the face. Then with deft fingers, she snatched up the pistol on his belt before it could fall out of his reach. She stood and fired off three shots directly into his skull. On the third, the battered weapon clicked empty; shrieking she chucked it at him and drew the long, iron piece of pipe from her bacl.

She swung it down at him like a staff, but the deadly bludgeon snapped against his hardened armor with ease. A thousands shards of fracturing steel splintered in every direction, time itself seemed to drag itself to a crawl. And then, one of those pieces lodged itself in her eye.

"AAARGH!"

Shrieking she stumbled away, right into a smashing fist. The blow sheathed itself in her stomach, bending her double over his arm. Somehow Krul gawped, the blow didn't kill her. Instead, she flowed up and over that devastating haymaker, grabbed him by the arms, and pulled.

Hard.

Ground.

That was his only thought as he lay there, head ringing. A harsh click reminded him of the gun-his shotgun-now leveled against his face. He'd been bested. Beaten. But instead of shame, he felt only euphoria, a strange sort of relief that he had finally met his match."

"What the devil are you?"

"Don't know." she huffed, out of breath. "Don't care."

But before she could pull the trigger...

"I yield!" he croaked out. "You've bested me, battlemaster!"

Naruko froze at the term.

Battlemaster.

This term, among others, had been drilled into her brain by the tank. Battlemaster. An elite krogan, often a biotic; an absolute terror to their enemies. That she'd just been called one gave her pause, enough to snap her out of her killing daze. Frowning, she cast the weapon aside. Krul glared up at her, strangely satisfied.

"So you do understand, after all."

"Not...an enemy." she muttered. Nodding, she turned, beckoning. "Follow."

Krul did just that...

...and soon bore witness to another strange sight indeed.

Naruko turned her head as she waded back into the fortress, and her eyes bulged.

"Where's my ramen...?"

Garrus croaked like a frog.

_"Oh, shit."_

Naruko blinked slowly, her blue eyes fluttering open then shut with a terrifying slowness. Garrus knew that look. It was the same look she'd given Sidonis when he'd mocked to hit on her - seconds before she'd nearly skewered him with a knife moments before. But now, those eerie, icy pools were locked on him. And there was no escape. Reflexively, the vigilante raised both hands in protest. He knew it wouldn't save him from her wrath, but it made him feel a tiny bit better about his chances of surviving it.

"Whatever it was, I didn't mean to do it, I swear."

There was a silence. And then:

Then:

_"YOU THREW OUT MY RAMEN!"_

"It was empty!" he cried!

**_"YOU DIDN'T LET ME FINISH THE BROTH!"_**

**A/N: And there we have it! I had originally intended to make this another NarutoxMass Effect crossover, but then I thought to myself, hey now, I have enough of those. But A Naruko crossover? I haven't done one of those-not for Mass Effect at least. And there's only one of them on here?! And so...the challenge was accepted. I know it sounds silly, but I found the idea of a berserk, female, barely-function kunoichi thrown into a distant era?**** So far I've only seen one of those, and tbh, its not written very well.**

**That, and the idea of the Archangel era is so untouched...I just had to go for it! Naruko and Garrus ought to be funny as hell, though I'm not exactly sure what the paring should be. To those of ya who are curious about Garrus's squad, whom we never really see, I promise you'll get to see everyone of the bunch: Monteague, Mierin, Grundan, Melanis, Sensat, Vortash, Butler, Weaver,** **the whole nine yards. We'll see 'em all! As to whether this will end with Archangel losing his squad, well...we'll just have to see about that now, won't we?**

**So...in the immortal words of Atlas...**

**...Review, Would Ya Kindly? And of course, enjoy the preview!**

**(Preview!)**

_Sidonis felt a puff of breath on his cheek._

_"Traitor."_

_His heart slammed against his chest with enough force that he thought it would burst. Ba-dump, dump, DUMP! He didn't need to turn in the dark, rotten alley to know who was behind him; who else would have, COULD have found him this swiftly? Even through the armor, he felt a cold chill of dread. Their voice was flat and angry, a far cry from the cheery girl she once was._

_"No, I-_

_"I trusted you."_

_That was all he had time for before the taut fingers of a hand erupted out of his chest._

**R&amp;R! =D****  
**


	3. Quirks of a Demon

**A/N: ****Hey, all! I'm back!**

** LONG LIVE THE REQUEST YEARS! This fic is next on the list! Thought Naruko didn't have chakra in this, did you? WRONG! It is also HEAVILY implied that Naruko has a "unique" set of violet rippling eyes in this fic as well.**

**Gee...wonder what those could be? *grins***

**Also, had a really nasty day today at work RIGHT BEFORE I LEFT FOR THE DAY, so I apologize if any of it bleeds over into my writing. I won't mention the details of where and what exactly happened because who knows what my employers would do if it got out, but I will say this. It was absolute BULLSHIT and it took a perfectly good day and made it all sour, not to mention its BUGGING me, since I try to be perfect when it comes to my daily job and get irritated as all get-out when I can't do a good job.**

** So, I do apologize if I at all come off as angry or in a bad mood to anyone on the site, today.**

**You just can't satisfy some people, it seems...**

**So, back on track, then!**

**I've gotten some flak from guys like Saucy Handles saying that I don't write stories with plot anymore. That annoys me a little to be honest. To prove them wrong, I've gone back to some of my more serious fics and launched a mad updating spree. "A Fly in the Ointment" and "Bring Down the Sky" are quite serious among others, and my "Not Going Home" series is not meant to be! It's a deliberately funny series of stories with only a thin veneer of plot in that regards its written to make people smile.**

**Now off we go!**

_"So how long has it been since blondie over there embraced eternity?"_

_"Ohohoho, good luck with that, she bites!"_

_"Wait what do you mean she-ACK!"_

_~?_

**Quirks of a Demon**

_"She's in the vents again."_

"Are you kidding me?!

Sidonis squawked and cast a furtive glance upwards in the vain hope that he'd somehow _see_ the sneaky little demon before she dropped on him. No such luck. All he heard was a distant clatters in the ceiling, a muffled bump that might be her, or just another space rat. Rats were_ very much preferable_ to the twintailed terror popping out of the vents to throttle him with her hair again. Spirits, how did she even do that anyway?! Normal people shouldn't be able to choke you with long golden locks! It just didn't make any sense for crying out loud! What kind of voodoo magic was that?!

"Better be careful." Garrus called, his rough, warbling voice carrying across the apartment. "I hear she likes her meat _raw."_

"What?!"

As if to echo that sentiment a hard _thump _reverberated from the nearby wall. Sidonis shrieked and leaped back, gibbering nonsensical gibberish. Was it just him, or was his fellow turian being a bit jumpy as of late? This wasn't the healthiest environment concerning one's mind, but he didn't remember the young man being so...well, so _twitchy_ before. Then again, who was the vaunted Archangel to judge? A vigilante who killed cruel and callous criminals with no regards for the law, a turian who played loose with the rules and even looser with his allies.

It made a twisted sort of sense that he'd attract his own band of misfits.

_Huh._

Just like Shepard.

He'd caught himself comparing to the Commander on more than one occasion now; though he knew in his heart that killing criminals was small time compared to the Reaper threat, when you stood for something people simply followed you, whether you wanted them to or not. It had been the same two years ago and it was the same now. In a sense, he really was like Jane. So was Naruko, in terms of raw drive and determination. That thought made him smile.

Speaking of crazy blonde's...

_"Boo."_

Naruko appeared all at once, dropping out of a neatly-placed vent to land on Sidonis's shoulders. Then she leaned down over him and grinned, her every shifting blue-violet orbs peering intently into his. For a a fleeting moment, the world held its breath. Garrus silently counted down as he watched the younger turian stiffen, his cobalt eyes widening slowly in spite of his own terror. Three...two...

_One._

Then all hell broke loose.

"GAH!"

Sidonis squawked like a startled parrot, flailing his hands madly. Naruko for her part hung on with demented determination, clinging to the back of his neck with her legs, seemingly uncaring as her prey thrashed about in a wild attempt to dislodge her. When he finally thought to outright reach up and grab the blond, he made the mistake of doing so by grabbing her hair. _That _earned him an angry slam to the floor, followed by a scowl as she vaulted away with all the grace of a skilled dancer, alighting effortlessly on a nearby sofa.

"Oho, he touched the hair." Meirin sighed.

Butler glanced up from his computer.

"Dead man walking."

"Spirits! Don't _do_ that!" Sidonis shrilled! "You nearly gave me a heart attack!"

"Stop whining, turian." Krul rumbled from the workbench, not even deigning to look up as he picked apart his favored flamethrower. "If my Battlemaster wanted you dead, you'd be dead."

Naruko nodded, her ponytail bobbing.

...you wouldn't taste good, anyway." her eyes drifted up to the mangled ponytail at the back of her head. "But you messed up my hair."

"...the hell is that supposed to mean?!"

In response, she leaped back into the vent.

_"Vengeance will be mine!"_

Sidonis groaned.

"Oh, hell no! Not this shit again!"

Garrus chuckled quietly to himself as he observed the feral girl's antics and Sidonis's subsequent fright. Say what you would about the Demon of Omega but she really wasn't all that dangerous. As long as you followed her rules, she'd normally leave you be. Vakarian liked to think he was beginning to understand them by now. Well, most of them.

Rule number one of surviving Uzumaki Naruko:

_Give her plenty of ramen._

Second rule?

_Stay the hell away from the vents._

Rule number three, you ask?

_Do _not_ mess with her hair._

Or she was going to torment you till the end of your days.

For reason that baffled Garrus to no end, Naruko took great pride in her hair. Almost as much as she did in her strange eyes. Poor Sidonis still hadn't gotten over the last incident and now he'd gone and pissed her off again. They were all still trying to figure out rules four-through-nine and Naruko barely spoke to anyone, but it was a start.

Not the best start, but a start nevertheless.

"So are we going to fucking get started or what, Boss?" Mierin posited abruptly, her bright eyes turning narrow as he looked on. "Or do I get to chase blondie down again?"

"You know she doesn't swing that way, Mierin."

The asari grinned shamelessly.

"I regret nothing!"

In the weeks that had passed since Krul had joined them-a rather loose term where the hulking krogan was concerned-Naruko had dispatched no less then _seventeen_ intruders and a seemingly endless amount of Vorcha scavengers. Strangely enough she'd taken a liking to a few and let them live or otherwise forced them to join the squad. That was how Mierin and Butler had stumbled their way into their little family, at least. Mierin was an asari still in her maiden days which was remarkable enough by itself, but add her absolute fascination to the shape-shifting huntress and you had a rather amusing combination.

It seemed blue mixed well with blond these days; and in a way, she almost reminded him of Liara.

If Liara was a bawdy biotic blur of brutality fawning over an equally merciless killer.

Well, points for _some_ similarities, at least.

Butler was a human ironically enough, and the only one-aside from Mierin and Garrus himself-who wasn't outright terrified by Naruko's antics. He was remarkable if only for the fact that he was unremarkable, a slender man with pale blond hair. That he specialized in numbers and finances was something of a boon for the team; if only to keep their paper trail hidden from their enemies. The man was an absolute genius in the realm of tactics and strategy as well, but like Naruko, he wasn't much of a talker. Which suited Garrus just fine.

Loose lips held no secrets, after all.

Credits could be tracked on Omega, just as well as anywhere else, even more-so when one realized there was no law to skirt. Butler was an ace when it came to concealing just that. The man might not be much of a combatant, but he was a _damn_ good coordinator.

Now that he thought about it though, didn't they have to coordinate-

"Somebody get her out of those damn vents before she gets lost again." Erash growled, the rolling baritone of his voice cutting into Garrus's thoughts like a buzz saw. "The op starts in an hour and we need everyone on deck. Jaroth isn't going to kill himself, you know!"

Garrus blinked.

Oh.

Right.

That Jaroth.

Leader of Omega's Eclipse.

Today's unlucky target.

When Naruko wiped out Garm and his precious Bloodpack she'd unknowingly created a power vacuum on the station. That wasn't altogether uncommon; on Omega, balance was an ever-shifting thing. Aria was the only constant. Everyone else fought over the scraps. But with the noted absence of the Krogan and the vorcha, the Eclipse rushed in to fill the void, eager to cut themselves a larger piece of the pie. Now, Tarak and the Blue Suns weren't happy about this sudden shift, but as they lacked the raw manpower and specialists to do anything about. Not that it mattered.

After Jaroth lost his head today, Tarak was next.

"I'll get her."

Sighing, Archangel rapped a clawed knuckle against the wall.

Once.

Twice.

Three times.

"Naruko?" he called. "You can get Sidonis later. It's time to go."

"Noooooooooo!" she whined. "I don't wanna~!"

The turian sighed.

"And why not?"

"No ramen."

Despite himself, Garrus chuckled.

"I'll buy you a week's worth if you come out of-"

BANG!

Naruko bolted out of the vent with such force that she actually created a small sonic boom, nearly bowling him over in her haste to escape the metal confines. The sheer force of the wind nearly blew Archangel back on the balls of his feet before he was able to make sense of the rapid chatter pouring from the hyperactive woman's mouth. Eventually he managed to decipher it as:

_"Ramenletsgofightnow!"_

"Huh." Erash remarked, four eyes blinking. "That's more than I've gotten out of her all day."

"Probably all you're _going_ to get," Mierin remarked with a snicker. "Unlike me."

"Shut up, asari."

"Meh, you shut up." she returned with a saucy salute, draping herself across the giddy blond. "Us girls need to stick together, right blondie?"

"Um...yes?"

Naruko's enthusiasm visibly deflated as she finally became aware of the voluptuous woman all but hanging on her. Honestly, she worried Garrus sometimes. One moment she'd be bouncing off the walls, ripping through enemies like her namesake. But when it came to all matters of intimacy she seemed to freeze up like a glacier, unsure of what to do. Just as she did now, in Mierin's embrace. Archangel wasn't even rightly sure the little vixen truly knew what sex _was _and for a grown woman, that was more than a little...disconcerting. As though she were a child, trapped in an adult's body. Actually, given what little she'd told him of her past, that was a fair assumption. Or maybe she did, and she simply wasn't comfortable revealing her emotions.

So when the blond abruptly beamed at him, he _knew_ something was up.

"You guys go on ahead." she said slowly. "Sidonis and I will catch up."

"Aw, seriously?" Mierin groaned. "You're picking that skittish chicken over me?"

The silence was telling.

Now Archangel became certain of it; the Demon of Omega was well and turly up to something, something that involved Sidonis, and he wasn't entirely sure he liked that. The younger turian stank of fear and-wait. Wait, wait, wait. Was that jealousy he felt just now? _Actual_ _jealousy?_ For her? Someone he had no claim to? _None of that! Down boy! She probably just wants to get back at him. Yes. That's it. That's all it is. Stop overthinking things!_ Ruthlessly smacking his libido into oblivion, he willed himself to feign a shrug and march toward the door.

"Suit yourself."

One by one the rest of the squad trundled out behind him. Mierin was the last to depart, casting one last longing look back at the lightly armored blonde. Sidonis watched the door slide shut after them, suddenly keenly aware that he was alone with the most dangerous woman on the station. He moved to leave as well, only for a hand to close around his shoulder. He tried to move, only to find that the little blonde was far stronger than she looked; it felt as though a krogan had him by the arm, not a human who barely topped 5"4 in terms of height.

"Wait."

"N-No," he muttered, "I think that's a very _bad_ idea...

"Tough."

The blond made an angry noise between her teeth and levered him back onto the sofa with enough force to forcibly push the furniture backwards. Startled, Sidonis reached for his weapon, only to have the pistol batted from his hands. Made incredulous by the sudden display of violence, he could only balk as a thin, angry smile pulled at his captor's features.

"Did you just _hiss_ at me?"

Naruko wasn't laughing.

_"Why were you going to betray us?"_

Sidonis froze.

_Lie,_ his mind cried!_ If you tell the truth she'll kill you!_

"I...have no idea what you're talking about."

"You've been leaking information for nearly five days, now." she clarified, her voice little more than a whisper. "I followed you. Heard you." A hand rose and the lights overhead flickered, died. "You've already tipped off Jaroth and his men so they'll be waiting for us when we arrive." Another gesture and still more of the power cells giving light to the room waffled as well and went out all at once, casting dark shadows over her scowling visage. "Tomorrow, you were going to lead Garrus away, for some reason. Why?"

"I don't have to take this-

_**"Sit."**_

Her eyes flashed violet and an invisible force settled around his shoulders, smashing him back against the cushions. Naruko made a claw with her hand and the pressure increased tenfold, pushing his body down into the sofa.

"Last chance." she warned.

"I swear, I don't know what you're talking about!"

For a moment, he actually thought she might buy the lie.

Then she scowled.

_**"Lights. Out."**_

As Sidonis looked on, helpless, her free hand rose and did _something_ to the last of the lamps, draining the last bit of light from the room. Plunged into darkness he started violently, scrabbling against the eldritch forces holding him, to no avail. In the end, all that remained were those eerie rimmed eyes of rippling violet. And then even those vanished, leaving his hammering heartbeat.

Panic set in.

_**"Don't breathe."**_

His heart slammed against his chest with enough force that he thought it would burst. Ba-dump, dump, DUMP! He didn't need to turn to know who was behind him; to realize what was about to happen. Who else would have, COULD have found him out this swiftly? Even through the armor, he felt a cold chill of dread. Their voice was flat and angry, a far cry from the cheery girl she once was. In that instant he realized it. She knew. He didn't know how, but somehow, she knew. She knew everything. His first instinct was to lie, to bolt, to deny everything, but he never received that chance.

It wasn't his fault!

They'd threatened him!

Threatened to kill him, damnit!

What other choice did he have but to submit?!

"Do you know why they call me the Demon of Omega?" Naruko's voice rang out in the dark, surprisingly smooth and eloquent. "Because I like to play with my victims. Make examples of them. String them up for all to see, to know, to remember. I'm not so nice as Garrus; he'd just shoot you for betraying him and toss the corpse in an alley somewhere. Me? I'm going to let you...panic. I'm going to watch you break. I want to see all your worst fears realized. Then I'll kill you. Destroy you. Your very soul. You're going to have a bad time, Sidonis. Now_**...run."**_

All at once, the invisible field pinning him decided to vanish.

Sidonis didn't waste any time.

Clamoring to his feet, the traitorous turian bolted for the last sign of light in the black; the door at the far end of the room. Its once green square -now an angry red rectangle- glared callously at him as he tumbled over furniture and knocked over tables in his haste to get to it, to escape. Expecting death to fall upon him at any moment, he slammed into it headlong. A distant clatter rewarded him and he whimpered as the softest of all too familiar footfalls padded towards him, blubbering incoherently.

"C'mon, c'mon, COME ON! OPEN DAMNIT!"

Clawed hands scrabbled frantically at the door, but it was no use.

Locked.

Too late, the turian felt a puff of breath on the back of his neck.

_**"Goodbye."**_

"No, I-

That was all he had time for before the taut fingers of a hand erupted out of his chest. He never saw the hand that killed him. Barely even felt it. One moment he was clamoring frantically at the door, the next, someone took hold of his hear and squeezed; pulling, ripping, tearing. Distantly he felt himself slip, felt his spirit leave his body, only to be caught. Trapped somehow. Then he didn't even know that. Nothingness encompassed his existence, followed by a chilling numbness, a bitter lack of sensation...

...then not even that.

Naruto held the turian's soul in her palm for a long moment, cradling it. Savoring its final emotions. Her hand crushed down on it half a heartbeat later-obliterating it utterly. It was the most painful punishment she could inflict upon an enemy with her abilities. Complete and utter oblivion.

The lights snapped on again in the next instant, power returning to the apartment.

Garrus Vakarian stepped carefully over Sidonis's corpse, his expression carefully blank. He supposed he should have known; the moment Naruko said she wanted to be alone she'd sent alarm bells ringing in his head. It should've been surprising to realize he'd been tipping Eclipse and Blue Suns off, but it really wasn't. In this line of work you either became cold, or learned to live with what life threw at you. It didn't make looking at his broken body any easier, however.

"Did you have to kill him?" he asked.

Naruko's cold blue-violet eyes turned towards him.

"He was a traitor." the bloodied girl's voice wasn't as flat as he would've expected but strangely heated, emotional, even. "Traitors deserve to die. He would've gotten you killed. I don't want that. You're mi-" she paused abruptly, averting her eyes, an odd flush rising to her cheeks, "You're my...friend. I don't want you to die."

"Next time, give me some warning, will you?" he groaned. "I need to know we're on the same team here.

That smile was both warming and chilling. "Of course."

Whistling softly, she set out after Garrus.

Naruko flashed a grin at his back.

It was all teeth.

_"Mine."_

**A/N: SIDONIS IS DEAD~! **

**Sorry, had to shoot that traitorous weasel before he did something.**

**And there we have it! I had originally intended to make this another NarutoxMass Effect crossover, but then I thought to myself, hey now, I have enough of those. But A Naruko crossover? I haven't done one of those-not for Mass Effect at least. And there's only one of them on here?! And so...the challenge was accepted. I know it sounds silly, but I found the idea of a berserk, female, barely-function kunoichi thrown into a distant era?**** So far I've only seen one of those, and tbh, its not written very well.**

**That, and the idea of the Archangel era is so untouched...I just had to go for it! Naruko and Garrus ought to be funny as hell, though I'm not exactly sure what the paring should be. To those of ya who are curious about Garrus's squad, whom we never really see, I promise you'll get to see everyone of the bunch: **_Monteague, Grundan, Melanis, Sensat, Vortash,_ **the whole nine yards. We'll see 'em all! As to whether this will end with Archangel losing his squad, well...we'll just have to see about that now, won't we?**

**So...in the immortal words of Atlas...**

**...Review, Would Ya Kindly? And of course, enjoy the preview! Next time: Is She With You?**

**(Preview!)**

_Weaver swallowed thickly._

_"Is she with you?"_

_"Yes."_

_Garrus laughed and turned a look on the bloodied blond, watch as she quietly picked the remains of a krogan out of her nails._

_"Yes, she is."_

* * *

_Naruko lowered her head._

_And spat out the bullet._

_Garrus blinked, slowly._

_"Okay...what?"_

_That was all he managed before the bedraggled blond vaulted forward and plunged a fist into Tarak's chest. The batarian gurgled wetly._

_"How...?"  
_

_"You. Don't. Shoot. My. Friends."_

_Shepard whistled softly._

_"Well, damn."_

**R&amp;R! =D**


End file.
